Those of us who thought Arsenal couldn't be caught, when did you start to believe again?

[Gingers Dad]

...but Liew in the Guardian says there was no jeopardy and we were never in trouble...

Between the FA Cup win and winning at theirs in the league their confidence drained away.

Arteta made a massive fck up in that FA Cup tie. He should have gone with his strongest line up and they may well have one the game. As it was they only lost one nil but they had given us the psychological edge. They knew they weren't going to beat us in the head to head's after that

 

[RayCTID]

Arsenal losing a two goal lead vs Liverpool and subsequently dropping more points vs West Ham and Southampton. The FA Cup game showed Arsenal not to be invinicible (or that good) as the media portrayed them as.

 

[woody1968]

I didn't think that they couldn't be caught, but when they went 2-0 up at Anfield that was the moment that I thought they wouldn't be caught, because teams rarely win at Anfield. It was a bold statement of intent and at that moment, they were playing them off the park too.

The moment when I realised they very much could be caught was a little over an hour later. Liverpool had gone for them and then reversed the roles by playing them off the park and very easily could have won it at the end. That was the day that it essentially got pushed back into our own hands and it was a real momentum shifter because of the manner in which Arsenal had collapsed. When the same happened again the following week, the shift had become seismic.

Absolutely- when the genius that is Zhaka decided to wind the scousers up and all of a sudden they were rattled, hanging on - I just thought to myself they have no track record of dealing with this, they have no leader, they are not intelligent enough, not strong enough ….and the rest was just so obviously going to happen. We are a gifted team with top top players but we have that natural strength and intelligence running through the core of our team and of course we have the Catalan.

 

[paulchapo]

I honestly thought this season would be a bit transitional for us ( What did I know lol?) but thankfully we got our act together. When Arsenal came back late to win against Villa and Bournemouth I honestly thought they'd do it. They'd also come back to beat Liverpool and the rags at home and didn't look like they'd falter. When they went 2-0 up at Anfield I was seriously worried. In the end they were hanging on and Liverpool should have won. When we battered them 4-1 I thought we'd do it.

 

[TFC]

When we beat them in the FA Cup. The gulf in class was evident.

 

[Main Stand Hotdog]

Not going to lie, they had me thinking they weren't going to drop enough points and we looked like we weren't going to put a consistant run together. They were starting to look like the real deal.

Then we played them in the FA Cup and they looked terrified and I still think that got in their heads and wounded them way more than they realised.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Absolutely- when the genius that is Zhaka decided to wind the scousers up and all of a sudden they were rattled, hanging on - I just thought to myself they have no track record of dealing with this, they have no leader, they are not intelligent enough, not strong enough ….and the rest was just so obviously going to happen. We are a gifted team with top top players but we have that natural strength and intelligence running through the core of our team and of course we have the Catalan.

Only recently saw the highlights to that game. The Arse can consider themselves fortunate to have escaped with a point. From the moment that Liverpool scored the first they were battering them.

 

[Always Ali]

They played Bournemouth & Villa in quick succession and just got over the line in both. I thought that just wasn't sustainable (over 38 games), they looked really easy to get at and so it proved. Oh, and because City are absolutely mint.

 

[Father Paul]

A simple question, hopefully.

A few of us on here, myself included, really thought the title was done and dusted when Arsenal were 8 points clear with a game in hand. However, as always, only a foolish man would bet against a City resurgence in the second half of the season. We came back again, we won the league again, and that means those of us who doubted are left to wonder why we ever questioned the inevitable.

But if you were someone who doubted that City could do a three-peat, when did you first allow yourself to hope that we could do it?

Funnily enough for me, it wasn't a City game that did it. It was Arsenal's 3-2 win over Bournemouth. Obviously the wild celebrations on that day were understandable, and Arsenal getting three points must have made it seem like the end for many City fans, but it was the reaction after the game that got me wondering whether Arsenal had the nerve to hold on. It seemed like they thought the title race was almost over even though there were still 12 games left to play - almost 1/3 of the season.

The reaction to that game - it was as though there were only 2/3 games left for them to hold on.

We've won 6 league titles in the last decade or so - you'd think I'd already learnt everything about a title race there is to know. But watching Arsenal this season really has taught me so much I didn't know and really hammered home the point that title races are incredibly long. So much longer than anyone thinks, even when it looks for all the world that it's over. Arsenal really thought, with that win over Bournemouth, they'd passed their biggest test. Wrong.

Almost every Arsenal game from February onwards was stressful. In fact, go back to the Newcastle 0-0 game and look at Arteta. He's already cracking with months to go. In the final minutes of games they were either desperately holding on for a point after being ahead (Liverpool, West Ham) or desperately trying to come back after messing it up (United, Brentford, Villa, Bournemouth, Southampton, even Sporting in Europe). They somehow tired themselves out despite only having one competition to focus on just by making every game exhausting.

So what about you lot? What game made you think "Actually, City could do this" for the first time this season?

I always maintained that the 2 head to heads would decide it and I think they did. Most people believed that recent history suggested that Arsenal would bottle it at some stage and that certainly seems to have happened as well.

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

When we stopped playing shit. Always thought Arsenal weren't capable of a 90 point season.